Drive Icon Change

This will show you how to change any drive icon that uses a drive letter to whatever icon you want in a user account. These will be the ones that show up in Computer with a drive letter. This is not to fix a missing drive icon.

How to Change a Drive Icon in Vista​

Information

This will show you how to change any drive icon that uses a drive letter to whatever icon you want in a user account. These will be the ones that show up in Computer with a drive letter.

Note

This is not to fix a missing or changed drive icon that just happened out of the blue, but to replace it with one you want instead of the default one. If the drive icon went missing or changed to some odd one, then try rebuilding the icon cache first. See: How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Vista

The icons you decide to use must be a 256x256 bit .ico (icon) file, not .png, to be used in Vista without viewing problems. A png file must be converted to a 256x256 ico file before it can be used. To convert a PNG to ICO you must use a program such as this with a free 30 day trial program called: Axialis IconWorkshop: Axialis IconWorkshop Download Page

Tip

The default icon path for the C:\ drive is located at C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll,30.

If your default drive icon is missing or was changed and you did not do it with the methods below, then look for a hidden (not always hidden though) autorun.inf when you open the drive letter in Computer and right click on the autorun.inf file and click on Delete. Next, approve the deletion.

EXAMPLE:METHOD ONE Before and After Drive Icon Change

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EXAMPLE:METHOD TWO Before and After Drive Icon Change

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OPTION ONE

For a Single User Account

NOTE:This will only change the drive icons for the user account that you are currently logged on in.

1. Open the Start Menu.​

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2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type regedit and press Enter.​

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3. Click on Continue in the UAC prompt.​

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4. In regedit, go to: (See screenshot below step 5)​

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HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes​

5. In the left pane, right click on Classes and click on New and Key.​

NOTE:If you already have the Applications key under Classes, then go to step 7.​

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6. Type Applications and press Enter. (See screenshot below)​

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7. In the left pane, right click on Applications and click on New and Key.​

NOTE:If you already have the Explorer.exe key under Applications, then go to step 9.​

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8. Type Explorer.exe and press Enter. (See screenshot below)​

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9. In the left pane, right click on Explorer.exe and click on New and Key.​

NOTE:If you already have the Drives key under Explorer.exe, then go to step 11.​

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10. Type Drives and press Enter. (See screenshot below)​

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11. In the left pane, right click on Drives and click on New and Key.​

NOTE:If you already have the Drive Letter (EX: C) key under Drives, then go to step 13.​

NOTE:The icon will need to remain in it's location for as long as you are using it. You can use any icon (.ico file) you want, or one that came with Vista. (EX: A .dll file path) See theHow to Use a DLL OR EXE Icon Library Filebelow.​

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18. The registry should look similar to this now. (See screenshot below)​

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19. Close regedit.​

NOTE:The change will be immediate. If you have Computer open, then you may need to press F5 to refresh the window to see the new icon. If you used a wrong icon size for the drive icon, then you may need to change the window's icon size in the View or Views menu to a smaller size.​

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20. Repeat steps 11 to 19 if you want to add another drive letter icon to change.​

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21. In some cases, you may need to restart the computer to apply the changes.​

NOTE:The icon will need to remain in it's location for as long as you are using it. You can use any icon (.ico file) you want, or one that came with Vista. (EX: A .dll file path) See theHow to Use a DLL OR EXE Icon Library Fileabove.​

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14. The registry should look similar to this now. (See screenshot below)​

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15. To Rename the Dive ​

NOTE:This is helpful for something like a DVD (optical) drive since they cannot be renamed through the normal method here: How to Rename a Drive in Vista​

If you do not want to rename the drive, then skip this step and go to step 16 below instead.​

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A) In the left pane, right click on the drive letter (Ex: D) and click on New and Key. (See screenshot below)​

E) The registry will now look similar to this. (See screenshot below)​

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16. Close regedit.​

NOTE:The change will be immediate. If you have Computer open, then you may need to press F5 to refresh the window to see the new icon. If you used a wrong icon size for the drive icon, then you may need to change the window's icon size in the View or Views menu to a smaller size.​

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17. Repeat steps 7 to 16 if you want to add another drive letter icon to change.​

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18. In some cases, you may need to restart the computer to apply the changes.​

Comments

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Thanks so much again Shawn, for taking your time to write this tutorial :D

I've tried the Vista Manager that u recommended me yesterday. The Icon Manager is easy to use but I notice a small problem in changing the icon of control panel(not those icons in control panel, but the control panel itself). The icon I chose only applies to the one in Start Menu, the icon of control panel on my desktop & navigation window still remain the same. I just like to find out if there's way to fix it

Thanks!

Attachments

I have not found a way to change the Control Panel icon you are wanting to change yet. Have you tried the trial download for Microangelo On Display yet? It looks like it would do a better job the Vista Manager with icons.

Thanks so much again Shawn, for taking your time to write this tutorial :D

I've tried the Vista Manager that u recommended me yesterday. The Icon Manager is easy to use but I notice a small problem in changing the icon of control panel(not those icons in control panel, but the control panel itself). The icon I chose only applies to the one in Start Menu, the icon of control panel on my desktop & navigation window still remain the same. I just like to find out if there's way to fix it

basically the image for hard drive (local drive c) is missing on my system & I tried to repair & rebuid it to no avail

Before I sign off please note that I totally love this forum & u guys are da' bomb! I say this becuase whenever I have a problem with my PC a google search always leads me to this forum which is how I found it in the 1st place I've fixed so many issues via this forum!

Shawn,
I am having similar problem. After installing Vista updates my E: drive icon started showing as generic Windows folder icon (see attached picture). System restore did not help, changing disk icon for drive E: (like described in this thread) did not help, cleaning icon cache did not help either.
Do you have any ideas what it can be caused by and how to fix it?
Best,
Darius

scr621,
I believe you answered to Shawn's post which was addressed to me.
I am happy you fixed the problem.
I would be even more happy if you told me how. I am dealing with the same issue, and learning about the details could help me solve it.
Best,
Darius

Then I followed your suggestion about changing the drive letter and restoring it back. After restoring it back to E: the disk icon showed up correctly for a few seconds (!), and then went back to the generic one and stayed. In other words, did not work.